1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to a nonvolatile memory device.
2. Background Art
The NAND flash memory market has rapidly expanded due to increasing memory capacities and decreasing prices; and in recent years, NAND flash memory has encountered problems such as downsizing limitations and increasing process costs due to decreasing minimum line widths. The development of a new nonvolatile memory is expected to solve such problems.
For example, memory devices have been proposed to combine a probe array with a recording medium formed from a resistance change material having a changeable resistance (for example, refer to JP-A 2007-273618 (Kokai)).
In such a conventional probe memory, information is recorded in and read from a recording layer by applying an electric field or providing a current between a probe electrode and a substrate electrode in a direction perpendicular to the layer of the recording layer; and good characteristics may not always be obtained due to the characteristics of the material of the recording layer. Moreover, to realize memories of even higher density, there is room for further improvement; and development of a nonvolatile memory device having a new structure is necessary.